Iraqi Shi'ite party leader dies of cancer
BAGHDAD: The leader of one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite Muslim political groups and most important religious dynasties died yesterday, adding to political uncertainty in a violent run-up to an election next January.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who headed the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), a major partner in the Shi'ite-led government, died while undergoing treatment for cancer in Iran, party officials said.
"It is a painful event and a great tragedy," the ISCI television station quoted Ammar al-Hakim, his son and likely successor as party leader, as saying. ISCI officials said two funerals would be held, in Iran and in Iraq.
Hakim, born in 1950, took over ISCI in 2003 when his brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, was killed in a car bomb.
ISCI is part of Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance, which also includes Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party, but ISCI announced this week it would lead a new group to compete in January's polls without Maliki.
Reuters
(China Daily 08/27/2009 page11)
